Isabella de la Houssaye

International lawyer and philanthropist

Isabella has been on many Students on Ice expeditions to the Arctic and has travelled to Antartica as well. A mother of five, she has accompanied all of her children on their polar explorations. She has travelled extensively all over the world as an international lawyer for White & Case, then as a banker with Lehman Brothers and now as an owner of Material Culture, an arts and antiques retail establishment and auction house based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Isabella is a Trustee of Princeton in Asia and the Arts Council of Princeton and an Advisor to the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

Isabella works with a number of environmental organizations including Conservation International and REEFCI and has spent a lot of time working with young adults on environmental projects including, most recently, installing solar panels on orphanages in Haiti and conducting reef surveys in the Caribbean.

Isabella has participated on four SOI expeditions over the years, together with each of her 5 children, and has been a very active and generous SOI supporter.